I've gathered these craft ideas from various places. Most of
them I've used, others however I've received from friends who tried and
tested them. All were fun and a learning experience in their own way. Click
on the ideas below for descriptions of the craft.

Preserving Leaves w/ Glycerin:
Mix one part glycerin to two
parts water. Pour mixture in a a pan and submerge leaves (weigh leaves down with
rocks). Leave submerged for 2-6 days, the leaves will be soft and well
preserved.

Stir ingredients together until stiff dough forms; add
more flour if necessary. Shape into balls. Make hole in ball, insert
"treasure" (small toy) in hole. Smooth over hole. Air dry for two days
or place in 150F oven for 20 minutes. Break open and find treasure. This
is a great idea for a party.

picture (or hand
drawing) of butterfly large enough to cover most of child's face

pipe cleaners
(usually two are needed)

markers, crayons
or other materials to decorate masks

scissors

cardboard (an old
cereal box works well)

glue

Allow child to
decorate picture of butterfly with markers, crayons or other craft materials.
Glue decorated mask to cardboard and allow to dry. Cut out shape of butterfly
with cardboard glued to the back of it. Cut out eye holes for child. Punch holes
in side of mask; feed pipe cleaners through holes to make strap to hold mask on
child's face. Additional pipe cleaners can be used for antenna on mask or make Butterfly
Antenna (below).

1 inexpensive
plastic headband (come in packages of 3-6 for several dollars)

Wind one end of
pipe cleaners around middle of pom-pon several times and secure by twisting pipe
cleaner around itself. Wind other end of pipe cleaner around headband,
approximately 1-2 inches off center, several times and secure by twisting.
Repeat process with second pipe cleaner. Wear and have fun.

Cut
a circle with a 8cm diameter from construction paper. I use the inside of a masking tape roll; it's just a
bit smaller than 8cm. The larger the circle, the more pointy the rocket's nose
cone. Cut a slit from one side of the circle to the center of the circle.
Overlap the two sides of the slit, forming a cone shape, until it is slightly
larger than the paper towel tube. Secure the ends with a piece of clear tape.
Place a bead of glue around the top of the paper towel tube; fit the nose cone
on the glued end. (Note: it will take a while for the glue to dry, so plan
an activity for the child after making the rockets to allow the glue to
dry.)

Cut three (3) fins
for the rocket. For the shape, I use a shape roughly described as half a
trapezoid, 6.5cm wide by 7cm high, with the top corner rounded. See a scanned
image here. Fold 1cm of the side measuring 7cm
back on each fin. Apply glue to the 1cm fold and stick to bottom of paper
towel tube.

Cut curly ribbon
into 15-20cm long pieces. Attach to the inside of the bottom of the tube with
clear tape to form "fire" coming from the bottom of the rocket.

something to wrap yarn around depending on how long you want the tail; I use the
shorter distance of a photo album

Wrap
yarn around album 20-30 times, leaving 15cm (6") extra on the
starting end (of the first wrap) and the final end (of the last wrap).
Carefully remove wrapped yarn from album. Tie 15cm extra ends together around
the yarn loops to keep the loops together. Secure it tightly. Cut the loops of
yarn about 5cm (2") from where the loops are tied together being careful
not to pull on the yarn (this is great practice for little ones just learning
how to use scissors). Take one of the cut loops and wrap it around the 5cm ends
securing them. When at the end, tie it off with one of the 15cm pieces; then tie
it to the other 15cm piece. Tuck tail into back of pants and you're a horse! For
more fun, cut felt or construction paper pieces in the shape of ears and attach
to head band or hat to make horse's ears.

Stack paper plates together. Demonstrate to child how to staple the edges
together. Staple around the whole circle. Cut paper plate in half and set aside.
Cut construction paper to fit into pocked made by the two paper plates. Cut (or
tear) pictures of animals from magazine. Glue to construction paper (it makes
less mess if one side is done at a time). Once glue is mostly dry, place
construction paper with animal pictures inside paper plate pocket and you have
Noah's Ark.

When selecting puzzle pieces, choose ones with a color you want to highlight. If you plan to
supply a photo for the frame, select a color that complements the photo nicely.
If surface of picture frame is smooth, sand before beginning. Spread glue
liberally over one of the four sides of the frame. Place puzzle pieces on glued
side, making sure pieces are close together. Apply glue to each of remaining
three sides and apply puzzle pieces. Repeat process for 2-3 more layers until
wooden frame is well covered. Lie flat to dry for at least a day.

Variation:

replace picture frame with a frame made from scrapbooking cardstock.

Apply glue and puzzle pieces in same manner. It takes at least three layers to
make the cardstock sufficiently stiff. This method works well if the frame will
be hung on an office-type partition. For a sample of the finished product look here.

foam shapes (I find a bucket of various shapes & colors at the discount
store for $6)

exacto knife

2 - 3cm magnet strips OR wooden picture frame with a plane surface

glue

Before
presenting the craft to the child(ren). Cut sheet of craft foam into a frame.
Smaller frames, for 3x5 or 4x6 photos, work best. This is most easily done with
an exacto knife by an adult. If there is some theme involved (holiday,
color, shape, animal, etc.) sort appropriate foam pieces for theme. Each frame
will take as many as 20-30 shapes depending on size and inspiration.

Allow child to
apply glue to foam pieces and place on foam frame. When finished, allow frame to
dry. Apply magnet strips to back of frame, supply photo and use on refrigerator
or other metallic surface. If using picture frame, you may need to sand it to
properly prepare the surface. Once foam frame is dry, apply glue to prepared
picture frame and glue foam frame to it.

Starting
from one corner of the paper, roll the paper around the pencil until the whole
paper is rolled around the pencil. Secure corner with a piece of tape. Lift
paper and allow pencil to fall out. On one end of the rolled paper, cut the
slanted end straight across with the scissors. On the same end, make a diagonal
cut 1-2cm below the straight across cut; this cut should only cut 3/4 of the way
through. Straighten out the flat of paper left attached. It should be the shape
of an arrow (triangular). Bend the triangular flap over the end of the tube.
Place the end with the flap in your mouth; do not touch the flap with your
tongue. Blow to make noise. Experiment with blowing to make lower and higher
pitch noises.

Decorate tube
with markers or paint. Apply ring of glue around one end of the tube 1cm from
the end of the tube. Place wax paper square over (glued) end of tube; secure
with rubber band. When child hums into open end of tube the wax paper vibrates
to make the kazoo sound. Experiment humming different sounds into kazoo. Make
kazoos with different length tubes and compare the sounds.

Cut turtle leg
shapes (trapezoids work well) and a head shape (circle w/ a long neck) from
green construction paper. Allow child to decorate bottom of both paper plates;
the will be the shell of the turtle. Place paper plates together, decorated
sides out, insides together to form "tambourine". Staple together
inserting legs as appropriate. Leave the neck area unstapled. Place handful of
beans/lentils/rice/macaroni in to turtle body and staple the rest of the paper
plates together, inserting neck and head where appropriate.

Supervise
child as they cut yarn and/or ribbon into long pieces for the tentacles. Apply
double-sided tape to the inside rim of the clear plastic container (I found I
needed to do this myself, it was just too much for my three year-old). Stick
yarn and/or ribbon to the outward sticky side of the tape. Have fun. My three
year-old particularly enjoyed dancing and twirling with his jellyfish. For
photographs click here.

Allow the
child to decorate the white tube sock snake with the markers. Supervise the
child as they cut a snake tongue from the red felt. Super glue craft eyes to
"top" of toe end of snake. Super glue tongue where the sock will
naturally fit in the child's hand (think puppet). Play.

Crumple and
stuff newspaper into small white plastic trash bag. When full, secure with
rubber band. Pull wax paper into long sheets (2.5-3 feet). Cut wax paper into
strips about 2" wide (and 2.5-3' long). These are the tentacles. Slip one
end of wax paper tentacles under a loop of the rubber band to secure. Draw
several simple fish shapes on the white paper and cut out. Decorate with
crayons. Glue or tape fish to tentacles. These tend to be rather large jellies
and kids love 'em.

Draw simple
starfish shape on paper. Provide paints or marker for child to decorate sea
star. While paint is still dry, sprinkle sand on wet paint to create bumpy
texture. When paint is dry, have child cut sea star out using scissors. Cut one
arm of the sea star off where it attaches to the body of the sea star. Poke
small hole in the arm and the body of the sea star near where the leg should
attach. Assist child in feeding brad first through the body and then the arm and
secure. The arm should be able to rotate and "hide" behind the body of
the sea star. If sea stars lose a leg, they can grow another, just like this
craft.

assorted
colors of tissue paper (optionally cut /tearinto shapes or allow child to do
this w/ scissors or by tearing)

yarn

single
hole punch

cellophane
tape

Cut clear
contact paper into butterfly shape or draw butterfly outline on contact paper
and allow child to cut out butterfly shape. Remove backing from butterfly shape
and show child how to decorate by sticking pieces of cut/torn tissue paper. For
best results, encourage child to cover all of sticky part of the contact paper.
Trim edges of tissue paper overhanging butterfly shape if desired. Assist child
in punching hole in "body" of butterfly. Thread six inch piece of yarn
through hole and tie ends together to form a loop. Hang from sunny window using
tape.

Draw a rough
outline of a fish on the poster board. Draw an oval/circle in the inside of the
body of the fish approximately 2" from the edge of the fish. Assist the
child in cutting the fish shape from the poster board. Then help child cut
oval/circle from middle of fish. You should now have a fish with a large hole in
the middle and a 2" border all around. Cut two pieces of contact paper
approximately 1" larger than the hole and fix to one side of the fish.
Decorate sticky contact paper with colored sequins. When finished decorating,
place other piece of contact paper over hole to seal sequins. If desired use
glue to decorate 2" frame with more sequins.

Lay paper towel on tray. Help child
to drip about 6 drops of each color on "random" parts of the towel. Allow the
child to pour 1/4 cup of water on the paper towel. Help child to tip the cookie
sheet from side to side and watch as the colors blend. When satisfied with the
pretty colors, pour off excess water from a corner of the cookie sheet. Allow
creation to dry either flat on cookie sheet, or on a drying line.